May 25, 2009

The Secret Life of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees are two of my favorite books. The first is fiction by Sue Monk Kidd of course—a book that I picked up by accident because I thought it was about bees, but turned out to be about a young girl who runs away from home in 1964 and ends up living with beekeeping sisters. Back in 2002 “The Secret Life of Bees” (Penguin Books) went up on the bookshelf as a keeper.

A few weeks ago “The Short History of the Honey Bee” landed on my desk. It could use the title The Secret Life of Bees if it hadn’t been taken, because the 160 page book turns out to be packed with some pretty interesting information about the history of honey, how hives are constructed, what you can do with wax, and manages to make tending a hive super-simple to understand. Each entertaining chapter is like, “Oh, I get it”.

Even if all you ever do is commune with bees in the landscape, you will at least understand these garden partners, how they live their lives and why every drop of honey is precious. Did you know that of some 20,000 species of bees only 7 make honey? Thought so.

Written by beekeeper E. Readicker-Henderson and published by Timber Press “The Short History of the Honey Bee” turns out to be a book that wins a place on my bookshelf when soooo many books these days don’t.

Daily Read:

Royal Horticultural Society—The RHS wants you to learn to garden in your bra.